Re: printing A4 pages on A3 paper

[Alexander Kobel]

On 2010-12-19 13:03, Federico Bruni wrote:
> Hi,
>
> in a print shop I was told that they couldn't directly print my A4 .pdf
> to A3 paper - using Adobe Reader - because in the pdf "pages are linked
> two by two" (I guess they meant to say "twoside").  [...]
>
> I just want to be sure that my pdf is ok and understand why the shop
> failed to print directly to A3.

Be sure, but probably that doesn't buy you anything.  When I take files 
to the local copy shop, I usually have to different flavours.  Which one 
to choose depends on the guy behind the counter.

One file (for the older guy) is plain A4 pdf, without any fancy things. 
 Just as Lily spits them out.  The senior clicks on "print to 
brochure", and I get A3 double-page, already stapled if I choose so - 
the printer does everything by itself.  Perfect approach, since each 
self-respecting printer company for these high 4- or low 5-digits range 
priced machines has this option in the driver.

His son (who actually is the shop owner) insists to claim that this 
method doesn't work, so I open the (USB stick) hat and present a 
pdfnup-ped 2 on 1, A3 landscape file.  He clicks on "print, fold and 
staple" or something, and I get what I want.  Usually after two or three 
corrections, that is - since he can't remember the correct page 
rotations in landscape, someone choosed "scale to A4" just before, he 
chose the wrong paper tray.  But he doesn't want the misprint to be 
paid, so it doesn't really matter to me.

IMHO, it doesn't make any sense to manually prepare the 2-on-1 version 
when the printer driver offers just this option [*].  It's more work, 
and if the printer company added some tweaks for the very machine if 
necessary, you'll lose them.  (Although I don't think this is an issue; 
the only feature I can imagine here is a binding offset.)  And even if 
it's not in the driver, the later Adobe Reader versions have this 
"brochure print" option.

[*] Unless you do really fancy layouts, beyond what LilyPond offers. 
Say, cross-margin pictures or something.  But you'll probably choose a 
serious print agency then, and they'll give you support on the right 
file format, and be able to handle conversions gracefully.


Cheers,
Alexander